Samsung continues to get it right in the customer satisfaction department, according to a new study.

The South Korean manufacturer's Galaxy S III (pictured) and Galaxy Note II smartphones snagged the top spots in the 2013 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), both scoring 84 out of 100. The flagship Galaxy S 4 was not included, since its debut came just after ACSI conducted the survey.

Cupertino can take solace, at least, in the fact that all three versions of its iDevice are still popular among users, while Samsung's earlier-generation Galaxy S II fell to seventh place, with only a 78 out of 100 satisfaction rating.

"Not only does Samsung edge ahead of all iPhones, Apple customers themselves don't see much difference between the iPhone 4, 4S, or 5," ACSI Director David VanAmburg said in a statement. The latest earnings report from Apple was better than expected, he pointed out, "but the name of the game for Apple has always been innovation."

Samsung, on the other hand, shows a strong upward trend, from the Galaxy S II to Galaxy S III; if its newest offering performs well, Samsung could threaten Apple's dominance in overall customer satisfaction, VanAmburg said.

Filling out the top 10 were Motorola's Droid Razr Maxx HD (80) and Droid Razr (77).

BlackBerry continues to play dark horse, picking up the rear with the low scores of 67 and 64, respectively, for its Curve and Bold smartphones. Neither the BlackBerry Z10 nor Q10 were included in the ACSI survey.

U.S. users prefer Samsung devices, while Korean customers flock toward Apple, ACSI said, based on a South Korean survey that resulted in the iPhone 5 topping the Galaxy S III in customer satisfaction.

Overall, smartphone users appear to be more satisfied than those with feature phones; smartphones earned a customer satisfaction score of 76 compared to 69 for feature phones.

"While feature phones are cheaper, and therefore viewed by many customers as better value, smartphones excel in quality," ACSI Chairman Claes Fornell said in a statement. "Smartphones receive strong marks for feature variety, design and ease of use, with battery life as their only real shortcoming."

Apple earned an overall ACSI score of 81 (a 2 percent drop from 2012), while Samsung, which offers feature and smartphones, pushed its score up 7 percent to 76 this year.

This study complements ACSI's coverage of the cell phone industry, which recently reported a 2.9 percent gain in satisfaction with the wireless phone industry.

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in journalism and mass communications.
More »